Strawberry Heart Muffins - Gluten and Dairy Free (has eggs...)
As seen in my monthly column on @YorkRegion - Renata's Table: Heart-shaped strawberry muffins for the love of your life
February is already here with thoughts of Valentine’s Day treats. Start your day with this gluten free, non-dairy (it does have eggs), healthy, hearty (see what I did there?) muffin with a crumble topping and a strawberry slice that looks like a heart. A perfect treat for you and for those you love!
This recipe reduces the amount of sugar, uses gluten free flour, oat flour and oat milk so it is naturally gluten and dairy free.
Strawberries when the green leaves are cut out in a V-shape and the berry sliced lengthwise, looks like a heart-shape!
Strawberries are low in calories, contain fiber, potassium, calcium and iron. They are also a good source of Vitamin C and folate. They are an anti-inflammatory fruit and an antioxidant and are good for vascular function thereby supporting heart health.
As always, when you make this recipe, I would love to see your creation so please post a photo of your Strawberry Heart Muffins goodness and tag my IG account #RenataCollective or leave a comment with your thoughts!
Prep Time: 10 Minutes / Bake Time: 35 Minutes / Makes: 12 Muffins
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
2 Tablespoons Butter – melted – vegan or dairy, alternate: coconut oil
¼ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Coconut Sugar
½ Cup Coconut Flour
¼ Cup Oat Flour – whirl oats in your food processor to a flour consistency
Muffin
¾ Cup Oat Milk - or another non-dairy ‘milk’ or dairy if not lactose intolerant
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice – or vinegar
2 Cups Gluten Free Flour – I use Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1
½ Cup Oat Flour
1½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
2 Eggs
½ Cup Butter - melted – vegan or dairy, alternate: coconut oil
2 teaspoons Vanilla
¼ Cup Coconut Sugar
¼ Cup White Cane Sugar
12 Fresh Strawberries – leaves cut off in a V shape - 6 chopped for muffin batter and 6 sliced for top of muffins
How It’s Made
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Prepare your muffin tin with paper or silicone muffin liners.
Crumble
Mix all the ingredients together with a fork. It will be dense.
Set aside.
Muffin
Mix the oat milk and the lemon juice together and set aside.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl – both flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Whisk the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl until smooth – oat milk/lemon juice mixture, eggs, butter, vanilla, coconut and white sugar.
Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is thoroughly moistened.
Gently stir in the 6 chopped strawberries. More than 6 strawberries and the batter can become too wet.
Spoon the muffin batter into the muffin cups, 2/3 full.
Loosen the crumble with the fork and top each muffin with crumble.
Top each muffin with a slice of strawberry. The strawberry should be sliced thickly and should resemble a heart shape.
Bake for 35 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness – some crumbs are ok but gloppy batter needs longer baking. Test again in 5-minute increments.
Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container on the counter for a day then store in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Variations
Use buttermilk or kefir (a fermented yogurt-like drink) instead of the soured oat milk or dairy milk.
Use fresh 1/3 blueberries or raspberries instead of the chopped strawberries in the batter and add a couple extra on top of the crumble before baking.
Add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients.
